Reconnaissance
by Yes-4-Yuffentine
Summary: Sometimes the only way to get out of a compromising situation is by means of another compromising situation. Robin x Maria


If anyone were asked what life was like in Moonacre Valley, the overwhelming reply would be that it was peaceful. Ever since that fateful night, when the moon had loomed so huge in the sky and the sea had crashed and swelled so unrelentingly against the cliffs, the fate of the valley had been altered. The true events of that night were only known to a handful of people, but the morning after word had spread to every corner of the valley; the De Noirs and the Merryweather had laid their differences aside. They were at peace.

Of course it had not been achieved overnight, but the new commitment of both families had seen that the long troubles of the past became a distant dream until there was no doubt that the Valley had gone from cursed to blessed. Good fortune seemed smile on all those who lived there. The De Noirs were held in high regard, fierce in their duty of protecting the woodland borders and dangerous sea ports. The farms and village of Silverydew prospered under the sharp and fair guidance of Sir Benjamin Merryweather, and there was no-one that his Lady Loveday would not show kindness and compassion towards.

But the peace and prosperity was known by all to be owed to Maria Merryweather, their fiery, bold and beloved Moon Princess. Moonacre Valley was a haven, a sanctuary for the last of the magic left in the world and it was the job of the Moon Princess to protect and preserve it. And its Moon Princess was devoted to this duty, whether troubles came from within the valley itself, or from the outside world as it so rapidly changed and advanced.

Of course, you would rarely see the Moon Princess without her faithful huntsman by her side. However, if you asked Robin De Noir what life was like in Moonacre Valley, _peaceful _would most definitely not the answer on his lips. Maria always insisted to him that she could never have broken the curse without him, that they had done it together, and by doing so they had both bound themselves to the valley as its guardians, protectors. Robin didn't know whether this was the case of not; what he did know was that the five years he'd spent with Maria in his life had been what he imagined being chained to a comet would be like, flying from one mad and reckless scheme to another with her.

This was how they came to find themselves in London a private ball, thrown by a very influential man at his impressive townhouse. Well, Maria had got herself invited, through the contact she maintained with her friends in London. She was, after all, an eligible young woman from a respectable family with an old name, something which came in useful for opening doors when she needed. The ball was one such door, and when it was in full swing, she disappeared from her London party of friends to let Robin in through a window. The pair then promptly snuck away into the depths of the house.

The study didn't take too long for them to find, for it was this room was the point of the whole trip. Although it oozed power and prestige, it wasn't perhaps as large as one would perhaps have expected for the lavish Viscount they were spying on. It was lined with bookshelves, the odd stern and disapproving family portrait between these, and a huge ornate desk sat in the centre.

"Well, the good thing is there's only the desk to search..." Maria observed, trailing off doubtfully.

"...and the bad thing is there's only one way in and out and nowhere to hide," Robin finished.

"We'd better hurry," She suggested, glancing apprehensively at the door and starting towards the desk.

Robin shook his head as they began rifling through the papers on the desk and the contents of the drawers. "I can't believe we're doing this. All on the basis of your mysterious, mystical _moon senses _tingling and telling you that this man is _not to be trusted_. Most men like him aren't for one reason or another but we don't break into all _their _houses and risk getting thrown into prison..."

"How many of these said men turn up near Moonacre in the dead of night to a random tavern? I trust my _mysterious, mystical moon senses _the same way you trust _your _instincts,"

"_My _instincts are based on intuition and experience. You can't even describe yours, let alone what they're based on or how they work,"

"So? They haven't failed me yet,"

"Neither have mine, and they're telling me now that _this is a bad idea_."

Maria paused to throw him an unimpressed look, "This is hardly the most dangerous or challenging thing we've done," She pointed out, "In fact, of all of the situations we've ended up in-"

"-That you've got me into you mean-"

"-this hardly scores at all. And I haven't got you into anything, you've followed me of your own free will. You're just in a bad mood tonight,"

"Of course I am, I've been skulking around outside, in the _rain_, waiting for god knows how long while you've been partying it up inside no doubt-"

"You haven't been skulking outside for that long, we agreed a time and you said you'd see what you could dig up about him, probably at the closest tavern. But I'll be more than happy to swap next time and _you_ can spend the evening refusing spiked drinks, making inane small talk and fending off the advances of lecherous old men," She shook her head, "When are you going to get it into that thick skull of yours that I don't enjoy these parties and I have no desire to abandon Moonacre for London?"

Robin scowled down at the letter he was reading. "You would have done once," He muttered.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Yes, years ago when it was all I'd ever known. I've grown up since then,"

This was exactly what had him in such a bad mood. It was hard not to notice just how much she'd grown up, especially when she was directly in front of him, leaning over the ledger she was flipping though, weight braced on her extended arm, palm flat on the desk's surface. No, he had full view of it. And so had the rest of London's finest probably.

His lack of movement made Maria glanced up after a few seconds. She narrowed her eyes at him when she caught the direction of his gaze.

"May I remind you," she said acidly, "That we only have an indefinite amount of time to search this place?"

"Who says I wasn't?"

"I can assure you, whatever it is we're looking for is _not _down the front of my dress!"

"Clearly not. I'm surprised you have room to even breath you're so tightly laced into it,"

Maria rolled her eyes again, "It's the London fashion and I needed to blend in…"

Robin snorted. "Well you've failed. You couldn't look any _more _noticeable,"

Maria fixed him with a half pitying, half disgusted look, "Maybe to a simple country boy, but so far I the only one I've caught gawping like a school boy is _you_. So when you're ready, perhaps you could put your eyes _back_ into your head and get to work," She eyed the mess of papers in front of him, "And once you've dismissed something, put it _back _before pulling something else out, if we have to leave quickly we don't want him to know-"

"Since we only have limited time, I'd rather make the most of it _looking _rather than _tidying up," _Robin cut in impatiently, "And it's hard to dismiss anything when we haven't the slightest idea to begin with what we're looking for!"

"We heard them, they said his name and-"

"Yes, it set off your magical Moon Princess senses," Robin interrupted again, "We've already gone over that. The point is, any detail could be significant but we wouldn't know to make the connection without a bit more context as to what he's up to!"

"I'm aware of that Robin, but we _don't_, so just use your head! Clearly his payments to-" She flipped over the page of the ledger and paused, raising her eyebrows, "Madame Leticia's School of Honourable Disrepute isn't of relevance to Moonacre," Her eyes roved further down the page, "My God, he must have a whole harem there given the size of these sums..."

"Maybe there's some compromising photos to steal and blackmail him with then," Robin grumbled. He slammed the book he was skimming through shut. "And if he does have something to hide, and the door to the study wasn't locked..." He trailed off and set about trying each of the desk drawers. All but one opened. He looked up with a grin. "Do you have a hair pin, Princess?"

Maria shut her own ledger and tugged one out of her hair to hand it to him, pushing the copper curl that it had secured behind her ear. It immediately bounced free again as she turned to watch Robin expertly pick the lock on the drawer, vaguely reminding herself that admiration was _not_ something such an illicit activity should be inspiring in her. But then, that ship had long since sailed. Since meeting Robin, her sense of right and wrong had become considerably blurred, in many more ways than one…

"Well?" She asked, distracted from her thoughts when the lock clicked and the drawer opened, "Anything useful? Incriminating?"

"Well...would a map of Moonacre with an X marking the spot be what you had in mind?"

"Oh for heaven's sake Robin, there's no in-between with you is there? Either it's the subtlest detail we're looking for or a signed confession written in his own _blood_-"

"Well it's not in his own blood but he has annotated it. Seriously," Robin flipped the paper round to show her. Maria stared at it incredulously as her eyes roved over the familiar territory.

"No. _Surely _not, no-one could be _that stupid_-"

"Well to be fair, it was locked away in his private study..."

"Which was _woefully_ unsecured and the first place anyone would look!"

"Well, lords don't get their positions through intelligence do they?" Robin studied the map for a few moments before refolding it and putting it back.

"You're not taking it?" Maria asked.

Robin shook his head, shutting the drawer which clicked shut again. "No, it'll be less suspicious to leave it and I know where it is. Or what he's highlighted on it anyway,"

"Which is?"

"An old cave system. Similar to the one leading to the amphitheatre, but lower down. It gets submerged at high tide,"

"What would he be interested in that for?"

"My guess is smuggling. I'll get onto finding out precisely _what _when I get back-"

He broke off as the sound of a masculine voice and footsteps echoed faintly from outside the study. Their eyes met, Maria's expression transforming into one of horror; if that was the Viscount, their time was up. They had nowhere to hide had probably seconds to come up with a convincing excuse...

Maria did the only thing she could think of, turning and swiftly sweeping the papers and various items off the surface of the desk.

"What are you-" Robin started, but Maria cut him off, seizing him by his shirt and dragging him to her until she was trapped between him and the desk. Wrapping her hands around the back of his neck she began to pull his head down. Robin either caught on quickly or was not one to waste an opportunity when a girl threw herself at him. He surged across the remaining distance, lips colliding with hers. He lifted her up onto the desk, learning forwards as she leant backwards until they were flat against the surface of it. It could only have been seconds until the door opened, but by that point their world had suddenly contracted to an intense bubble of only each other, a few _glorious_ moments of wandering hands and furious lips-

"_What the devils going in here?!" _The angry voice of the Viscount that they had failed to notice enter, despite the certain knowledge that his entry was imminent, abruptly brought them back to reality.

Robin hastily pulled himself off of Maria, and Maria, whose hands were clutching the front of his shirt, was yanked upwards with him as well. It could only look as convincing as it did because it was at least half genuine.

"What does it look like?" It was Robin this time who managed to think fastest this time, although the annoyance in his voice, also convincingly husky, was _very_ real, "Find another room, this ones taken-"

"How dare you address me with such insolence?! This is my private study! What do you think you are you doing in- _look at the mess you've made!"_

Three pairs of eyes roamed over the scatter of objects on the floor, lingering on the smashed ink bottle, the contents of which had exploded over various papers, conveniently ruining them and covering the tracks of Maria and Robin's snooping.

"Oh, sorry, we didn't really notice," Robin said apologetically, tugging his shirt straight (when had Maria managed to untuck it?) and swooping down to pick up his hat and cram it back onto his _very_ tousled hair. He stepped back, pulling Maria off the desk with him, arm remaining tight around her, "Here, we'll put them back-"

But he was harshly interrupted again. "Don't touch them! Just _get out_, go and find somewhere else to satisfy your _infernal adolescent lusts!"_

Maria bit her lip, keeping her head bent downwards as they hurried past him, her hand remaining tight in Robin's. The door was slammed aggressively shut behind them, and it was only when they were out of earshot along several corridors that Robin stopped, dropping her hand and turning to her.

"That was...quick thinking," He stated, clearly slightly unsure of what to say.

"This is London. It was obvious," Maria shrugged, as ever the essence of practicality.

Robin masked his slight twinge of disappointment, "I can't believe he actually bought it…"

"Why wouldn't he? As you said, titled folk like him run on their own self-importance, not _intelligence_. I doubt it'll occur to him that we were in there for any other reason other than all the other rooms being taken,"

"If you say so," Robin said dryly.

Maria frowned. "Well I don't recall you coming up with any better ideas at the time," She accused.

Robin had plenty of ideas however, all mostly involving scenarios where they weren't interrupted.

"You'd better get back to the party," He chose to say instead, thinking that these ideas were best kept to himself.

"I'd rather jump of a cliff again," Maria informed him, giving him an irritated look. "I had a better time in your dungeons,"

"Well I suppose if you come back with me now I can arrange that for you…"

"Of course I can't come back with you," Maria scoffed, "That would be completely improper,"

Whilst being pinned beneath him across a table was, of course, entirely proper, being simply a practical solution. "Well what do _you_ want to do then?" He asked, beginning to feel impatient with her.

"Well," She turned to look at him appraisingly, "I'd suggest we do as we were told and find somewhere to satisfy our irrepressible teenage lusts..."

Robin's eyes widened, his irritation completely overtaken by surprise. He inclined his head to meet her eyes. "And that would be less improper how?" He asked slowly.

"Well, if you really need an explanation, my absence will have been noticed by now…" A sudden glint came into her eye and she fixed him with a look that made him reassess his previous disappointment, "So I think we need to keep my cover story convincing. Don't you?"

Robin remained silent for several moments.

"I think," He eventually answered, "That you're full of _interesting_ ideas tonight,"

"What can I say?" Maria replied, the mischievous look in her eyes now impossible to misread, "You _inspire_ me,"

Feeling a complete change of heart towards the whole evening and a new appreciation for her practical attitude Robin grinned and bowed to her. "Your wish is, as ever, my command,"

She gave him a skeptical look. "That's _not _true but I won't argue..."

"Good," Robin replied, crossing to the closest door and opening it. Finding the room beyond to be empty, he gallantly held it open for her.

"After you then Princess..."

"Thank you," Maria replied in a gracious tone as she proceeding past him into the dark room. And after glancing up and down the corridor one last time, Robin swiftly followed after his fair Lady.

London, he supposed, was not so very bad after all.

* * *

_I apologise for the very thin back story of this, and if the premise is somewhat unbelievable! It was only ever based on the very simple idea of Maria and Robin getting caught somewhere they shouldn't and covering with the help of a nearby table and their 'infernal teenage lusts'. I hope you found it as fun as I did to write!_

_I'm aware I appear to be spamming Robin/Maria tag page with my own work. I've wondered if I should be putting these oneshots together into one collection. I was never really keen, since they're all un-related and keep turning out longer that originally imagined. Would people prefer them to be all in one place though? Please let me know as well if you think the rating should be higher... I thought since the sexual tension is only really implied that T would be okay?_

_I hope you enjoyed, and aren't getting tired of one shots! I know I keep saying I have longer stories in the works, and I do. But my writing time is limited to 40 minute train journeys on my daily commute to work so I'm finding these generally easier to work on. I'm reluctant to post anything multi-chaptered unless the large majority of it is finished, as I tend to work in random bursts and not in a chronological order. I've got the first chapters of two stories that i'm aiming to be about 3-5 chapters each finished, but would you want to read these if there's likely to be long periods between the updates? I know I wouldn't!_

_I want to say a huge, huge thank you to everyone who has supported my previous works, and particularly to those who have commented. When it's such a small and quiet fandom, the reward for writing is mostly in itself. But I don't think you realise until you post fanfiction yourself how hugely motivational and encouraging getting comments can be. I spend a lot of time on these, and am constantly editing since I'm sure i'm my own worst critic most of the time. A short comment, just on a line of dialogue that you liked, what bit made you laugh, what you like about the characterization or if you're rereading, the bit that you come back for or something else you noticed that you hadn't before...it is honestly just so hugely gratifying to hear. I'm very open to constructive criticism too; something I'm finding, especially when working on longer stories, is that that I tend to write awkwardly in long sentences and not very creatively or descriptively. The he said/she said bits in particularly! So constructive criticism is always welcome to improve my story telling. So please consider, before leaving any fanfiction or stories you read, just dropping a short comment. It really doesn't have to be anything long or complex review if that's what stops you, and it really is the best way to support an author._

_And if I post anything else, I'll try not write yet another ridiculously long author note which also seems to be becoming a habit!_


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